Bone and joint tuberculosis in Glasgow: the present situation.

A retrospective survey of bone and joint tuberculosis in the City of Glasgow over the decade 1966-75 has been carried out. Its object is to chart the changing pattern of clinical presentation of this disease, and details of 129 patients are presented. The numbers of children and adolescents are relatively low: Asian immigrants and the elderly are now the higher risk groups. A positive culture was obtained from 60 per cent of the bone and joint lesions and in every case the organism was human Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis complicating a closed fracture is a very rare occurrence; this series includes one further such case. Delay in diagnosis was evident in a significant number (11%) of patients. We must bear in mind the fact that we still have with us not only the great Victorian architecture, but also the great Victorian disease.